An initiative which aims at making this world a better place and builds a platform for economic revival opportunities for the State at large.
Kishore Shah is an accomplished Organization Development professional, with more than 15 years of rich and varied experience. In 2001 he set up a consulting firm Ideaz Unlimited, of which he is the founder-director.
He speaks about his trust and initiatives taken up over the years which were supported by the State. “Our Trust was a spiritual, intellectual, emotional and social culmination of various initiatives “ideaz unlimited” has taken for last one decade be it pioneering Goa’s first “GOA CSR AWARDS”, “HOPE” a initiative to revive Goan artist and art forms, and 364 Days of Transformation awards”. The Trust in last 9 months under its verticals SPEED, CSR INCUBATOR and HOPEKART has an impressive track record of building 5 social start ups at zero cost, launching a first of its kind “Foundation course in “Palliative Care” in collaboration with Pallium India and Dilasa, a record 53 Goan UG students successfully qualified, and along the way has also been able to build an entrepreneurship cell for Divyang in collaboration with Sanjay School.
Kishore then explains the impact of Covid-19 on different dimensions.
“Black swan events, such as economic recessions and pandemics, change the trajectory of governments, economies and businesses — altering the course of history. Covid-19 has impacted us in a big way and one can see its effects on biological, psychological and economic dimensions. Its intensity varies depending on the mortality and morbidity rate of the pathogen at hand, as well as the time it takes for it to spread.”
Biological Impact: Covid-19 has been quick to escalate and has been the hardest-hitting for the elderly. It has suddenly made one realize that the Human race is not a superior race on the earth.
Psychological Impact: This can be observed in stock markets across the world – investors are under-confident about the future as the information on the spread of Covid-19 and its impact on global productivity is at best incomplete and at worse, incorrect. The global population is also facing psychological impact, with low morale and increased isolation as human contact and freedom to travel are getting heavily curtailed.
Economic Impact: In a short period, the supply of various essential products has been disrupted and the demand for various products and services has dropped off. If this continues, Covid-19 could very well affect global GDP negatively.
With Covid-19 raising its ugly head all over India and touching Indian shores, the one day curfew was followed by a 21 day lockdown, which compelled people to stay indoors. “We were instructed to maintain social distancing, and wash hands. But between junk forwards and following directives, we didn’t capitalize on the collective power of India. No thought process was triggered. Digital India didn’t get into action.”
The atmosphere all over was one of worry and the main concern of everyone was was how to kill the time, get groceries and essentials. There were voluntary associations, who came forward to supply essentials, but everything seemed more centered on supply chain management and after a week it appeared that people got adapted to this lifestyle which was a real concern. Kishore went on to add that he shared his concern with his Trustees and there was an instant resonance among all of them that they needed to break this hedonic adaptation.
Thus the concept of Parivartan Karo Na was born, as there was a need to create a crucible for scouting solutions and ideas for the immediate and distant future. The Trust had a huge catchment area of diversified talent and experiences waiting to be triggered and tapped.
A team of 4 took this up as a challenge and decided to create an environment for new ideas to germinate. GDP foundation is a 9-month old Trust with an exemplary track record and 3 startups under its belt, namely Demerg Systems, Internship Station and Goa Bylane. Instead of worrying about the present, they channelized their bare minimum resources and abundant enthusiasm to create a fruitful tomorrow.
Together they initiated Parivartan Karo Na – a contest-cum-internship that encourages Goa to think of simple, smart and superior sustainable solutions, which can help Goa, India and the world at large to bounce back and gain its lost sheen.
Kishore adds that somewhere along the way, each one wanted to do something concrete beyond clanging thalis, clapping and flicking light switches. “There was a palpable restlessness among the masses and deep down people have realised that patriotism has varied shades beyond protecting borders and collaborative ways of building the Nation is also one of them”.
He then speaks about the social and economic impact that he is visualizing with this initiative. “Let me first share that there is growing deficiency of inspiration and competency in several leadership positions. The roles in various institutions require a turnaround because if leadership positions and roles lack inspiration and competency the entire organization gets into inertia and becomes dysfunctional. If a 9 month old Trust with young visionary, competent Trustees and 3 young start ups could come together and build a wonderful platform operating from their remote locations itself is the testimony of the social and economic impact.”
Kishore explains about the social impact that the pandemic had on the people. “The first social impact was seen from the positive encouraging response coming in different flavors. We had crowd funding coming in, encouragement, press took a note, participation scaled, not only from Goa but from other cities and countries. Innovation needs critical mass thinking, it is not a domain of few people as the entire world is suffering.”
He adds that though Goa is relatively safe on the Covid 19 front, its economy is suffering.”One needs to come up with opportunities to serve other states and countries through our path breaking ideas and solutions.”
In such challenging times, ParivartanKaro Na aims at making this world a better place and builds a platform for economic revival opportunities for the State at large
To trigger these there are well thought of, 5 challenge – categories for participants to choose from
CATEGORY 01: MEDICAL COMBAT READINESS
CATEGORY 02: SOCIO/ECONOMIC/CULTURAL ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION
CATEGORY 03: ENVISAGE NEW FORM OF OPERATIONS
CATEGORY 04: SMART DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE STATE
CATEGORY 05: REVIVE – RESTORE – REINVENT THE GOAN /INDIAN /WORLD ECONOMY
Kishore speaks about the participation and eligibility for the initiative. “The one who can think will come up with an idea. This initiative is open for people from all walks of life like, students, educational institutes, Corporate, self-help groups, retired bureaucrats and housewives. If you have an idea, you are eligible to enter. It is an effort to nurture a tendency of thinking of a breakthrough in a breakdown and keeping the morale of the community high.”
Regarding the response, Kishore says “The response has been tremendous. Till now we have crossed the mark of 75 participants in less than 2 weeks. The participants of varied educational backgrounds and vocations have shown a keen interest. We have principals of institutions, HR professionals, Students, Architects, Ex-bureaucrats, NGO’s, Home makers, leading women entrepreneurs, doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, start ups, Incubation centre CEO’s, SME’s, MSME’s, as well as researchers participating from Goa and those settled outside.”
Kishore speaks about future plans with regards to sustenance of this initiative beyond Corona. “Parivartan Karo Na is the essence of GDP foundation’s core values. It’s not just a contest. This unique initiative aims at tapping collective wisdom and latent talent on a continuous basis. This initiative is designed to run in 3 stages.
Stage I is the Contest Stage: This commenced from 14th April with the last date for submission being 15th May 2020 5.00 P.M. This is managed end to end by our Trustee, Parag Velusker who is also the Chief Contest Coordinator
Stage 2 is Evaluation and Growth and Development phase (from 15th May to 15th June for all uploaded entries). In this phase we will give a comprehensive “Assessment report for growth & Development” for every uploaded entries. This is managed by our Trustees, Ameya Salatry and Sandesh Prabhukhanolkar.
We have a distinguished Jury Panel Headed by Dr. Praveen Khullar: Head Global Development Centre, Sanofi Synthelabo & President GPMA
Stage 3 is the application phase: from 1st July 2020. In this phase, the evaluated entries will be divided into 1) Hi-Potential and 2) Developmental
The high potential will be immediately taken for implementation facilitation, though a “Board of Experts” and the “developmental will be mentored by the GDP Foundation till they move to Hi-Potential so as to become high potential in due course of time. This will be a win-win situation for all, including the country and world at large. This Stage is managed by Ameya Salatry and Kishore Shah.
“We launched the contest on 14th April at 11.00 am immediately after the Honorable .P.M. Address to the Nation. We started circulating WhatsApp forwards and posting updates on social media platforms regularly.”
Kishore extends his humble invitation to the GCCI, GMA, NIPM and the State Government. “These associations along with the State Government will help nurture the evaluated entries and not only take this initiative to its logical end but keep the momentum on so that it becomes “Parivartan” in its true sense and Goa sets an example for the country and world to look forward to as a role model.”
